A tight 5: January 12

Jo Brand has today picked up her honorary doctorate from Birmingham City University. The former psychiatric nurse used her speech to call on more funding and less stigma around mental health issues. 'The more we can bring it out in the open, the better, and then hopefully governments will recognise the importance of funding it,' she said.

THE WRITERS of Friends are bringing a new musical to London. David Crane and Marta Kauffman have penned a new version of Rapunzel with music from Michael Skloff, who composed the sitcom's theme song I'll Be There For You. It will run at the Greenwich Theatre from February 18 to 21.

SACHA Baron Cohen's long-time collaborator Dan Mazer is to make a new comedy film about a new-age festival. The Brit will co-write, direct and executive produce Three Miles North Of Molkom, set in the annual extravaganza in the Swedish resort of Angsbacka, which features tantric sex, fire walking and shamanism. According to Hollywood website Deadline, the plot involves a jock, who gets separated from his backpacking friends and winds up there by accident.

ONE DIRECTION are to make a guest appearance on Family Guy. Liam Payne and Louis Tomlinson will voice their own characters, though it's unclear who will play Harry Styles and Niall Horan. The band appear in a campfire scene in which baby Stewie tells them a horror story about non-skinny jeans, according to Entertainment Weekly. The episode, called Run, Chris, Run, will air in the States in May.

ABSOLUTELY ANYTHING, Burn, Burn, Burn, Lost in Karastan, Man Up, The Lobster and The Second Best Exotic Marigold Hotel have been nominated for best comedy at the National Film Awards. The ceremony takes place on March 31.

Published: 12 Jan 2016